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Prom-date rejection investigated in Connecticut school killing

Connecticut School St_Turn.jpg

Police remain on scene at Jonathan Law High School after a 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Milford, Conn., Friday, April 25, 2014. A teenage boy is in custody, and police are investigating whether the attack stemmed from her turning down an invitation to be his prom date. (AP Photo/The New Haven Register, Peter Hvizdak)

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A teenage girl may have been killed today because she rejected a boy's request to be his date at a junior prom this evening.

Connecticut police are investigating that possibility, as Associated Press reporters Dave Collins and Pat Eaton-Robb explain in this story:

A 16-year-old girl was stabbed to
death inside a Connecticut high school Friday, and police were
investigating whether a boy attacked her because she turned down an
invitation to be his prom date.

Maren Sanchez was stabbed in a
hallway of Jonathan Law High School in Milford, about an hour's drive
from New York City, around 7:15 a.m. Staff members and paramedics
performed life-saving measures on the girl, but she was pronounced dead
at a hospital, police said.

The 16-year-old boy was taken into
custody. His name wasn't released because of juvenile offender laws,
said Police Chief Keith Mello.

Imani Langston, who describes
herself as one of Sanchez's best friends, said students were gathered in
an auditorium when a teacher came and told them had Sanchez been
stabbed.

"She basically just explained to us that Maren Sanchez
got stabbed in the throat for saying no about going to prom" with the
suspect, she said.

Langston said she saw the suspect taken out of
the school in handcuffs. She said Sanchez and the boy were friends but
had never dated. She said Sanchez had helped to organize the junior prom
and was looking forward to attending with her boyfriend. The dance was
scheduled for Friday night but was postponed because of the stabbing.

In
class on Thursday, Sanchez "told me about her prom dress, she told me
how she got asked to prom," Langston said. "We were just laughing,
talking about what we were going to do when we got there, how many
pictures we were going to take."

Sanchez, a junior, was in the
National Honor Society and engaged in school activities, schools
Superintendent Elizabeth Feser said. Students were released from school
early, and officials were offering counseling services.

"We are
obviously devastated by the loss of one of our students, Maren Sanchez,"
Feser said at a news conference. "She was a 16-year-old junior --
vibrant, very, very involved in Jonathan Law High School, an incredible
contributor, someone who was loved and respected."

A cousin of
Sanchez, Edward Kovac, said the family is shocked and devastated. He
described her as a "bright light full of hopes and dreams" as he read
from a family statement and said more needs to be done to ensure young
people are protected from attacks at school.

Students described an emotional, somewhat chaotic scene as police and paramedics swarmed the school.

Sarah
Golden, a 14-year-old freshman, said she was sitting in the main lobby
with friends when she was startled by several security guards running
down the hall. Then she heard a voice on a walkie-talkie say that
someone had been strangled.

"I was trying not to freak out because
it was really scary," Sarah said. "I just don't believe that something
like that happened at my school. It's something that seems so unreal."

Golden's
17-year-old sister, Rebecca, a senior at the school, said she saw the
victim lying on the floor surrounded by teachers, some of whom were
crying. She said she didn't know what was going on at the time, and
teachers directed her away from the victim.

Mello said police were looking into the reports involving the prom rejection.

"This
is something that everybody wants to get to the bottom of and find out
why it happened, how it happened and what can we do to make sure it
doesn't happen again," he said.

Mello said town schools are very
safe, despite not having metal detectors. He said police will be
reviewing surveillance camera footage for evidence.

Janet Golden,
Sarah and Rebecca's mother and a Milford alderman, said she rushed to
the school to get her daughters. She said the stabbing most likely will
result in more community discussions about school security, like those
that were spurred by the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School
in Newtown in December 2012.

"How can we create an environment
that's safe for our children?" Janet Golden asked. "My daughter actually
saw the victim lying on the floor, so I'm dealing with kids that are
pretty traumatized now. I can't believe this is happening in our town.
It's frightening."

A moment of silence was observed in Connecticut's House of Representatives for Sanchez.

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